Category: Research

Beauty products have come a long way from the days of straight milk and honey, and the technology to test new products is evolving, too.

Volunteers are needed to participate in an industry-supported study aimed at developing laser-based technologies for assessing the effectiveness of skin moisturizers and firming agents. Men and women over the age of 18 are needed, especially individuals over the age of 50.

The one-time measurements take less than an hour. For more information, contact Research Associate Abhinav Madhavachandran (Bio Med).

By Abhinav Madhavachandran.

Bruce Lee (Bio Med) traveled to the 9th International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies in Singapore from June 18-23, 2017, to give an invited talk entitled “Stimuli Responsive Biomaterials Utilizing Mussel Adhesive Chemistry”. Additionally, Lee also chaired one session in the “Stimuli Sensitive and Responsive Polymer Biomaterials” symposium in the conference.

Dr. Xing and Zhao et al. of Michigan Tech University have published a paper entitled: “Aligned Nanofibrous Cell-Derived Extracellular Matrix for Anisotropic Vascular Graft Construction”

The research group was successful in generating a vascular graft with biomimetic circumferential tensile strength and expression of smooth muscle cell specific genes over static culture.

In previous studies, fibroblast cells were used to create vascular grafts by wrapping a decellularized fibroblast seeded matrix sheet around a temporary mandrel into tubes.

Visit the Research Team’s Website

Read more in the article “VASCULAR GRAFT TISSUE ENGINEERING IN THE RCCS” in Synthecon.

Keat Ghee Ong (Bio Med/LSTI), is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $467,660 research and development grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health.

The project is titled “Mechanically Active Magnetoelastic System for Controlled Loading Environment to Promote Vascularized Bone Regeneration.” This is a three-year project.

By Sponsored Programs.

Rupak Rajachar (Bio Med) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $23,000 research and development grant from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The project is “Developing a Biocompatible Large Whale Tracking Tag.”

This is a 15-month project.

By Sponsored Programs.

Hao Meng, Yuan Liu and Bruce P. Lee have co-authored “Model Polymer System for Investigating the Generation of Hydrogen Peroxide and its Biological Responses during the Crosslinking of Mussel Adhesive Moiety” in Acta Biomaterialia.

To harvest the unique underwater adhesive properties of mussel adhesive proteins, scientists have designed various synthetic mimics of these proteins to create novel biomedical adhesives, drug carriers, and tissue engineering scaffolds.

The team designed a model system to systemically characterize the biocompatibility and biological responses associated with the byproduct (i.e., hydrogen peroxide) generated during the curing process of biomimetic adhesive moieties.

Hydrogen peroxide is an important biological molecule with multiple biological functions (i.e., wound healing, disinfectant, etc.). This is the first report to characterize the release of hydrogen peroxide during the curing process of the mussel adhesive moieties; however, the biocompatibility of these biomimetic materials have not been fully characterized.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2016.10.016

Bruce P. Lee and Pegah Kord Forooshani published “Recent Approaches in Designing Bioadhesive Materials Inspired by Mussel Adhesive Protein” in the Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry.

Mussels can bind to various wet surfaces, such as a ship hull or rock, through the secretion of adhesive proteins.

This paper reviews the remarkable underwater adhesion of these proteins, which have inspired many scientists to incorporate such unique chemistries into the design of a wide range of materials. The chemistry extents to biomaterials, such as adhesives, coatings, and therapeutic drug carriers, as well as to smart materials, like smart adhesives, actuators, and self-healing materials.

This is an invited and peer-reviewed review article which provides a comprehensive and updated information on how the adhesive proteins function and methods for using these designs to create new and improved functional materials.

DOI: 10.1002/pola.28368

Bruce Lee (Bio Med) and graduate student Ameya Narkar (Bio Med) coauthored the paper “pH Responsive and Oxidation Resistant Wet Adhesive based on Reversible Catechol-Boronate Complexation.” The paper was published in Chemistry of Materials. This paper was also coauthored by Tech alumni Brett Barker and Matthew Clisch, as well as Jingfeng Jiang (Bio Med).

DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b01851

From Tech Today.